Ethereum Chain Naming Convention

[aakilfernandes]

Specification

Each chain (including the current public chain) should choose a 1-3 byte string consisting of capital letters and numbers [A-Z,0-9]. For example the current public chain could choose 0 while the morden testnet could choose M or MOR.

This string would be prefixed by a capital E on all exchanges. Such that the current public chain would be recognized by E0 while morden would be recognized by EM or EMOR.

Any string starting with TH would be forbidden since it would result in a string like ETH. Since all chains would have ether (changing the unit names would break cross chain compatability), it would be confusing to sell ETH since every chain has ether, and it would be unclear which chain ETH refers to.

Rationale

Referring to both the public chain and the underlying technology as "Ethereum" is problematic. It confuses the technology with the chain. In the future, it is possible there will be multiple public chains all running the EVM. In this future, it would be useful to have a naming convention that allows for these chains to coexist without confusion.

It would also be important for cross chain relays to have a standard identification scheme, such a single "Ethereum relay" like BTC relay can house all the logic for all EVM based chains.

[wanderer]

This string would be prefixed by a capital E on all exchanges.

I don't think this a protocol change

[aakilfernandes]

@wanderer I don't believe this is repo is only for protocol changes, but anything that requires standardization. For example the token standard discussion here #20 does not involve a protocol change

Correct me if I'm wrong and I'll be happy to close.

[github-actions]

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[github-actions]

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